The relationship between the presence of people, fire patterns and persistence of two threatened species in the Great Sandy Desert

Context Indigenous Australians who lived in the desert used fire for many purposes. The interruption of these practices following colonisation, and the spread of invasive predators, coincided with massive faunal loss. Many extant species are still threatened by invasive predators and changed fire regimes. The study indicates that reinvigoration of traditional fire practice could help conserve declining species. The work presented here arises from a collaboration of scientists and Pintupi people (Traditional Custodians of the Kiwirrkurra Indigenous Protected Area, IPA). Some Pintupi co-authors grew up with a traditional nomadic lifestyle, and they include members of the Pintupi Nine, the last Pintupi people to walk out of that nomadic life, joining the Kiwirrkurra community in 1984. Aim To understand how traditional burning practices affect two threatened and culturally significant species: ninu (greater bilby, Macrotis lagotis) and tjalapa (great desert skink, Liopholis kintorei), on the Kiwirrkurra IPA. Methods We used satellite imagery to examine fire regimes in a 40-year time series (1980–2020) that includes transitions of people leaving, or returning, to different parts of the IPA. We collated information about traditional fire practices shared by Kiwirrkurra co-authors. Finally, we examined how ninu and tjalapa are affected by people presence and the fire regime. Results People influenced the fire regime by burning while hunting, by increasing the number of fires, decreasing their size, shifting the fire season (towards cooler months), and increasing the extent of long-unburnt vegetation. This regime reduced the fire extent after prolonged, widespread rainfall. Hunters have been active in the Kiwirrkurra community over the past 35 years, and fire patterns resemble those in the 1950s before the desert was depopulated. Under this fire regime, both bilbies and great desert skinks have persisted over 20 years of monitoring, with no large fires occurring since 2002. By contrast, they have disappeared from surrounding unmanaged parts of the landscape. Conclusions We suggest traditional burning helps ninu and tjalapa by increasing food resources in the fresh firescars and reducing vulnerability to predators by maintaining more mature habitat. Implications We support the use of traditional foot-based hunting fires in accessible hunting areas. Where prescribed burning is used for conservation, we recommend burns that are the width of typical hunting fires (~100−200 m wide). After significant rainfall events, burning should occur as grasses cure so that fuel continuity can be broken up, and extensive fires prevented.